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Kerlikowske Just Says "No"
According to Kerlikowske, his way of thinking about drugs has changed a lot since 1971, the first year of his career as a cop (and, ironically, the first full year of the ill-fated War on Drugs). He's decided, for example, that drug addiction is a medical issue and not "primarily a moral failing," he told the International Association of Chiefs of Police during their annual conference last month in Denver.
While that change in thinking has influenced his view of drugs and drug use – for example, he's declared that the "war" on drugs is over, and, refreshingly, says that drug addiction is a "very complex and dynamic public health challenge" – it apparently hasn't influenced him enough for him to consider that perhaps our way of looking at drugs as the "problem" is a problem in itself. Indeed, reading Kerlikowske's speech to the IACP makes it seem that the subject of ending prohibition is perhaps the one topic that isn't even welcome at the table. Kerlikowske applauded the group's president for writing a letter to the Washington Post (one that did not get published) arguing against an editorial by two members of the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, which opined that legalization would make cities safer and protect police. Without offering any proof, Kerlikowske states simply that the LEAP position is wrong: "All of us in this room are far too familiar with the lost promise of a child and the spiraling tragedies resulting from addiction," Kerlikowske said. "We owe it to the people we serve to speak out about the unintended consequences legalization would have and the toll it would take on the health and safety of our communities."
Oh boy. Here we go again.
To make matters worse, it seems Kerlikowske has been drinking the anti-drug youth media campaign Kool-Aid. Even though numerous studies have show the incredibly expensive just-say-no media campaign has no effect on stopping teen drug use, it appears Kerlikowske is ready to toe the same old tired line.
So the War on Drugs has ended, eh?
